Authors

Andrea Taylor lives in Nelson New Zealand. From a young age the word alternative was used by those around her to describe her - unsure of what that meant she carried on being curious and questioning much of what was being presented to her. She attended University to study Psychology, Education and Sociology with the view of becoming an Educational Psychologist. Early on in her university study she realised that university was a lot like school and she was still being told what to think rather than how to think. She left University with a Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences and a few papers towards a Masters. Since then she has formally studied Yoga and continues to follow a Yogic path today. She has worked a variety of roles, mainly involving supporting people on their career and life pathways. Many of these roles she did while home-schooling and raising her two children. She values nature and all animals, personal peace and social justice, health and wellness and uses prevention of illness practices to stay well. Andrea has been a vegetation for almost 40 years, largely eating an organic raw, fruit, vegetable and nut based diet. She grows a lot of her own food. She walks in nature daily. She questions and researches and tends to look beyond the veil that society has drawn, to review the value and place of much what is considered the norm and 'right'. She believes that true education and what it is to be human involves consciousness and being truly present, and without that consciousness; past and present affects future, personal choice and freedoms. She considers herself a student of life. Self-awareness, self-responsibility, humility, graciousness, compassion and wholeness are qualities she works to develop.

Fa'afetai Ta‘asē was born on 8 July 1965, the son of Vaotupu and Levine Ta'asē. The family lived in Cannons Creek and was well known in Porirua, contributing to the community as teachers, church leaders and artists. Fa‘afetai had cerebral palsy and spent his early years in and out of hospital. Porirua was his home, and he was educated there and in Wellington. Fa‘afetai started out as a performance poet in the 1980s. His work explores themes of identity, family, love, faith and politics with a New Zealand-born Pacific lens. He writes with a sharp eye and a warm heart. Fa‘afetai died unexpectedly in October 2022. He was laid to rest with his parents at Whenua Tapu Cemetery just outside Porirua.

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Hona Black (Tūhoe, Te Whānau a Apanui, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) lectures on teaching for Māori medium schools at Massey University, Palmerston North. This is his third book about te reo Māori. Hona lives in Porirua with his partner and their son.

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Awanui Te Huia (Ngāti Maniapoto) is a researcher and lecturer at the School of Māori Studies Te Kawa a Māui. She has a PhD in psychology that focuses on factors that support heritage language development for Māori learners of te reo Māori. As well as focusing on Māori language learning, she also researches the ways in which Māori and Pākehā learn about colonial history, and how such knowledge contributes to our concepts of biculturalism in Aotearoa. In 2019, for Te Mātāwai, she led the project Manawa ū ki te reo Māori.